European stocks close day higher on Draghi remarks

Major equity indexes in Europe recorded modest gains on Thursday on the back of the ECB President Draghi's remarks in the press conference following the bank's decision to keep the rates and the amount of QE unchanged.

In his prepared statement, Draghi shared the updated ECB projections, which showed an upwards revision to economic growth expectations for 2017, 2018 and 2019. Draghi also said that the growth was robust and broad-based. Responding to a question on potential asset bubbles, Draghi noted that the Governing Council didn't see any systemic danger from bubbles. Regarding the QE tapering, he said that they were probably going to announce a decision in October.

Germany's DAX 30 Index added nearly 90 points, or 0.73%, to close at 12,304 points. The UK FTSE 100 Index rose 0.6%, or 45 points, to 7,400 points and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.27% to 374.95. Spain's Ibex and Italy's FTSE MIB failed to take advantage of the positive market mood and dropped 0.1% and 0.4% respectively.

Headlines from the European session:

• ECB: balanced press conference, little new information - Westpac
• ECB meeting: It’s not Autumn yet - ING
• US stocks struggling to gain traction during early trade
• ECB's Draghi: Decisions on QE in Oct, volatility in FX rate a source of uncertainty
• WTI regains $49.00 post-EIA
• Draghi does not stop Euro from rising – BBH